Engineering News
By: Mariaan Olivier
Published: 11 May 07 – 12:00

Environmental group Sustaining the Wild Coast (SWC) has urged the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (Deat) to block the controversial N2 toll road, linking the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, suggesting that the process was “flawed” and that the final scoping study was “full of contradictions”.

The final scoping report for the controversial N2 Wild Coast project was released last month, after independent environmental consultants CCA Environmental completed the study for the 560-km route.

CCA Environmental handed the report to Deat, which will either approve or reject the project, or ask for further investigation based on the information provided in the final scoping report.

This report showed that the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) has rejected alternative routing proposals for the toll road and that it would pursue a route similar to the original route proposal, which Deat rejected in 2004.

The new route proposed a deviation at Mzamba, which entailed a five-kilometre deviation inland of the original route between Mzamba and Mthentu river.

The report formed part of a second environmental-impact assessment (EIA) study undertaken on the project after a previous record of decision had been overturned, following claims of a lack of independence because of the consultant’s financial links to a private toll-road consortium.

The SWC said, however, that the process was “fatally flawed” and that it would be a further waste of taxpayers money if Sanral continued with the “charade of pursuing another EIA along what is principally the same route”.

“If Sanral wishes to pursue a national road through the Eastern Cape province, they should start the process fresh and begin at base level by first ascertaining, (in collaboration with national and regional authorities) regional needs, and by gathering all relevant data in an unbiased process before determining what routes and which transport means would best serve the interests of the region,” the organisation said in statement recently published on its website.

The organisation also said that the final scoping study was not providing any specifics of how the proposed N2 route would realise economic growth for the area.

The report stated that national road networks were linking main cities and economic regions of a country and that it was, therefore, playing an important developmental role in economic growth and social upliftment. It stated that the former Transkei had few economically realisable natural resources and that a road network would provide the necessary linkages to the local communities.

The SWC slammed this as a “hugely subjective and debatable question”, arguing that the region had an “unspoilt, species rich, scenically unparallel coastline”, which would be threatened by a national road, which had an “undefined” purpose.

The organisation said that regional benefits were unlikely to be served by a high-speed road.

“It is difficult to see how the N2 toll road can serve two conflicting purposes, i.e. high speed inter – city highways are not designed to serve the interests of small regional centres,” it said.

The study did not quantify the loss of ecosystem or biodiversity as a result of the road, the SWC said, adding that it was also concerned about how the environmental impacts of any routes would be mitigated.

The scoping study maintained that measures to mitigate adverse effects would be undertaken, but the organisation stated that it did not give any explanation about how such measures would be implemented.

Posted on May 11th, 2007
Filed under: Newspaper and Media